Configuring Controls and Indicators
Use Properties dialog boxes or shortcut menus to configure how controls and indicators appear or behave on the front panel. Use Properties dialog boxes when you want to configure a front panel control or indicator using a dialog box that includes context help and in which you can set several properties at the same time for an object. Use shortcut menus to quickly configure common control and indicator properties. The options available in Properties dialog boxes and shortcut menus differ for different front panel objects. Any option you set using a shortcut menu is reflected in the Properties dialog box, and any option you set using the Properties dialog box is reflected in the shortcut menu.
Right-click a control or indicator on the front panel and select Properties from the shortcut menu to display the Properties dialog box for that object. You cannot display Properties dialog boxes for a control or indicator while a VI runs.
Right-click a front panel control or indicator while editing a VI to display the shortcut menu. The menu items above the first two lines in the shortcut menu are common to all controls and indicators. When a VI is running, you can change only the value of a control. You cannot edit other characteristics, such as the default value or description of the control. The menu items below the second line are customized for the object.
The following options are common to all control and indicator shortcut menus:
- Visible Items—Lists the parts of an object you can choose to hide or show, such as the name label and the caption.
- Find Terminal—Highlights the block diagram terminal for the control or indicator. This menu item is useful for identifying a specific object on a complex block diagram.
- Change to Indicator and Change to Control—Changes the current object to a control or indicator.
- Description and Tip—Displays a dialog box where you can enter and view object descriptions and tips for using the object.
- Create—Creates a Local Variable, Reference, Property Node, or Invoke Node to control various properties of the object programmatically.
- Replace—Replaces the front panel object with a different control or indicator without losing all of the editing options you applied to the object up to that point.
- Data Operations—Contains a submenu of the following data editing options:
- Reinitialize to Default Value—Sets the control to its default value. You also can use the Reinitialize To Default method to reinitialize a control to its default value programmatically.
- Make Current Value Default—Makes the current value of the control its new default value. You also can use the Default Values:Make Current Default method to set the default value of all controls on the front panel programmatically.
- Cut Data, Copy Data, and Paste Data—Cuts, copies, or pastes the contents of a front panel object.
- Advanced—Contains a submenu of the following advanced editing options:
- Key Navigation—Assigns keyboard shortcuts to controls so users can navigate the front panel without a mouse.
- Synchronous Display—Displays every update. Use this feature to display animations.
- Customize—Displays the Control Editor window, which you can use to customize front panel objects.
- Run-Time Shortcut Menu—Contains a submenu in which you can disable or customize the run-time shortcut menu for this control.
- Hide Control or Hide Indicator—Hides the front panel object from view. To access a hidden object, right-click the block diagram terminal and select Show Control or Show Indicator from the shortcut menu.
- Enabled State—Determines if an object is enabled, disabled, or disabled and dimmed.